


Ghosts

by April_Gabriella



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Regret, Character Death, Drowning in feels, Empath Will, Episode: s02e13 Mizumono, Episode: s03e04 Aperitivo, Excuse Me While I Drown in My Feelings, Hannigram - Freeform, I accidentally did a thing, Kinda rewrites everything after Ko No Mono, Mizumono fix it?, Murder Family, Will is Drowing, a little bit of murder, and so am i
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-05-28 09:56:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19391722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/April_Gabriella/pseuds/April_Gabriella
Summary: He only feels the ghosts of Hannibal and Abigail. His family. Now lost to him.Chapter 2:What if time did reverse? What if teacups did come together?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My rewatch of season 3 has me drowning in my feelings. Drown with me, if you would.

_The pain._

The physical pain had been inconsequential to the pain of watching Abigail die in front of him.

The pain of Hannibal looking at him like he loved him and then leaving him to drown in their blood.

Will dreamed of it almost every night.

"You were supposed to leave."

"We couldn't leave without you."

Those tender, loving arms. Will knew exactly how those arms felt around him. He knew how much he wanted to be back in them, even if it meant bleeding out.

"Why did you lie to him? He gave you a chance to take it all back and you just kept lying."

He had wanted to take it all back... but...

"The wrong thing being the right thing to do was just, too ugly a thought."

What a fool he had been. There was no one to blame but himself.

And blame himself he did. Every day.

"He knew exactly how to cut you. They said it was surgical. He wanted you to live."

"He was supposed to take me with him, we were all supposed to leave together, he made a place for us."

 _A place for us_.

Hannibal, Abigail and Will. A place was made for all of them... _together_.

Hannibal wanted to surprise him. He kept Abigail alive, just for him.

"I forgive you Will. Will you forgive me?"

_Yes._

Because you can't choose forgiveness, it just happens to you. And it had happened to Will. He forgave Hannibal for Abigail's death. Twice. He would forgive him again and again. He knew that now.

"I forgive you."

That perfect moment of clarity when he heard Hannibal's voice on the phone.

"They know."

He was finally sure of what he wanted. But it was too late.

"The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true."

In eight months he had fantasized about he and Hannibal killing Jack countless times. Jack was not supposed to live past their dinner. This life was supposed to end after Jack's death. But it didn't. Will was still living this life and he found it extremely difficult to reconcile that fact. Found it hard to enjoy the fact that Jack was still alive. Jack was the price he should have paid for his new life with Hannibal and Abigail. A price he hadn't paid. And because of it Abigail was dead and Jack was alive.

And he hated it.

The look of betrayal on Jack's face would have been worth Abigail's life. He would have only had to endure it for a few seconds, and Abigail's blood was worth so much more than Jack's.

**_Why didn't Hannibal tell me Abigail was alive?_ **

He would have done what was necessary to secure their lives together in some other world.

In a place made for them.

But he knew why Hannibal had kept it from him. Hannibal wanted Will to choose him, not Abigail. Hannibal wanted him all to himself, but he would have shared him with Abigail. Will would've been happy with that. A new kind of family. One he would cherish and protect.

"I wanted to run away with him." He wanted _so bad_. "A part of me will always want to." The deepest part of him was connected to Hannibal, and almost no part of him wanted to give that part up.

Hannibal was in him. Hannibal had bloomed inside him and he cherished it. He no longer knew what life was without it. A large part of him no longer cared to know.

"I'm building rooms in my memory palace for all my friends."

"Friends" was a dismally poor word. But it was the only word he could ever tell anyone.

He spent so many hours in Hannibal's kitchen after he had recovered. It was the only place he could feel close to him again. Sitting in the same place he had expected to die. He should have died, at Hannibal's hands. It would have been better than this farce of a life that he endured now.

Abigail had been there with him, bloodied and silent. Allowing him his time. Allowing him his memories.

"Friendship with Hannibal is blackmail elevated to the level of love."

"I came here to be alone Alana, if you wouldn't mind."

They all knew before he did. They tried to tell him. What had he heard instead?

He didn't know anymore.

He only knew longing. He only knew ache. He only felt the ghosts of Hannibal and Abigail. His family. Now lost to him.


	2. Guest of Honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What would happen if Ghosts was... the opposite of what it was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of accidentally did a thing. I didn't mean to. I was just watching Apertivo again when Will is fantasizing about killing Jack with Hannibal and I thought, what if?

Will didn't have a clue as to what his face was doing as Hannibal brought out the lamb. Some part of him thought that maybe he should put some sort of effort into controlling his features, but he didn't bother to do it. In truth it didn't matter what Will's face was doing now. If Jack started to suspect what they had planned and ran, they would catch him. If he pulled his gun, Hannibal would break the hand that held it.

So Will just sat there, at Jack's right, and watched Hannibal put the lamb on the table in front of them.

Jack sat at the head of the table, the guest of honor. He looked over at Will for a short moment and when he looked away, his eyes seemed to go inward.

_Did he know?_

_Did it matter?_

It was too late now, in so many ways. And Jack didn't see what he didn't want to see. He wanted Will to be his man in the room, and so to him, he was. Jack made willful ignorance into an art form. It worked to Will's advantage. To Will _and_ Hannibal's advantage.

Will wasn't sure how to feel about killing Jack. He didn't think Jack deserved to die, by any means. But his thoughts often led him to how angry he was about the flippant way Jack had used him. Had pushed and pushed until Will lay broken at his feet. And then he pushed some more. No matter how vehemently he had been warned to stop, or by whom, Jack had kept pushing. He would always push, and he had no remorse about it.

Even after all that though, Will still wouldn't even think about killing Jack for real. Not until Hannibal had all but told him about Abigail.

_"Will, should the universe contract... Should time reverse and teacups come together, a place could be made for Abigail in your world."_

_Will had almost cried at those words, though his brain didn't grasp their meaning. "What place would that be?" he asked with trembling lips._

_"In losing Abigail you lost your child._ Our _child._ " _Hannibal's lips parted but he hesitated a long moment before adding, "What if we could regain such a child back?"_

_"How could we gain her back? What's dead is dead Hannibal."_

_But Hannibal only tilted his head, looking at him, and would say no more._

_And Will knew, once he let himself know. He knew and understood._

The dinner they had planned with Jack was to be his rebirth. Jack would die and Will would be born again. They had spoken no more of Abigail, Hannibal had refused and so Will had not seen her, or knew any details of her. He dreamed of seeing her. Dreamed of her alive and well. Dreamed of a place that had been made for him _and Abigail_ at Hannibal's side. Hannibal would not speak of Abigail, but he spoke at length about Will's rebirth. Gave vague details of a place at his side, of a home and a family. Jack's life was to be the price. And Will felt the most profound longing to pay that price. To take his place in that world. To have Hannibal and Abigail as his family.

What would that be like? For Hannibal to show himself to Will without constraints? For Will to fully be... himself? He was more himself than he had ever been when he was at Hannibal's side, with Hannibal in his mind. And with his whole heart he wanted Abigail back. He wanted the family that Hannibal had all but promised him.

But first Jack had to die, and Jack was a small price to pay. He would only have to endure Jack's betrayal for a few moments, while he died. And then... then he could have what he what he yearned for with all his heart. It was eating his vegetables before he could have desert. And he would eat, Hannibal's vegetables were always delicious anyway.

Hannibal set the lamb on the table but his eyes remained fixed on Will, and Will looked back, understanding. Now was the moment they had planned for. Now was the moment that Jack would die and Will's life would change. He was ready.

Hannibal cut portions of the lamb for all of them and purposefully left the knife close to Will. He grabbed it before Hannibal even sat down, jamming it into Jack's throat. Deep. He opened Jack's neck and the blood sprayed onto the table between them. Hannibal was sitting at the table again and the smile he graced Will with was pure adoration. Will's eyes never left Jack's throat though, so he didn't see it. He wanted to make sure Jack died. Wanted to cement this moment for Hannibal. For Abigail. For himself. This was his moment of renaissance. He hadn't betrayed Hannibal, he had betrayed Jack, and he could live with the consequences of that. Happily.

This is what his entire life had been building towards, he knew it. This was his best of all possible worlds.

Jack was looking right at him, as Will knew he would. The betrayal and shock were so clear. Will bore it, because he could do nothing else. Jack was dead the moment Hannibal had told him about Abigail. The moment Will had understood what Hannibal was saying. He would do _anything_ to have that. So he didn't regret Jack's open throat. Couldn't regret. Wouldn't. Damned if he'd feel.

So he watched Jack bleed to death in front of him, because of him, and he only felt anticipation for the life that awaited him. He only felt impatience to see Abigail. For Hannibal to lavish him with all he desired.

Of course Hannibal insisted on eating dinner first.

"Hannibal," Will had almost whined when Hannibal said it, "You promised."

"And I always keep my promises Will. But Abigail will have already had her dinner by the time we arrive, it is only fitting that we do the same."

It was the first time Hannibal had spoken plainly about Abigail being alive and Will's heart clenched at hearing it.

'Where is she?"

Hannibal gave a pointed look at Will's plate and would only speak once he had picked up his silverware and taken a bite of lamb. "She is not so far away, only two hours drive east."

Will had been wrong, never mind Jack's death, _this_ was eating his vegetables before desert. Will wasn't hungry, but he ate anyway. He _needed_ desert.

"Will you take something from him?" Will asked glancing over at Jack's stiffening corpse still sitting at the head of the table.

"Absolutely." Hannibal answered breezily, "He is in my home, they will know who killed him." Hannibal set his silverware face down on his plate and smiled at Will, and if he had not seen it with his own eyes, Will wouldn't have thought Hannibal was capable of such a look. It was pure, immaculate love. Nothing else. It took Will's breath away. "Of course," he continued after a long pause of lavishing Will with _that look,_ "in this case they would be wrong."

When Hannibal finally stood up from the table, Will did the same. In an instant Hannibal was right in front of him, his hand caressing Will's face. He was still giving Will _that look_ , it had never really left his face. It overwhelmed him and for a long, agonizing moment Will thought Hannibal would kiss him. That look spoke of want to devour. He could feel it pouring from Hannibal, and it took him a moment to realize that he _could_ feel Hannibal now. Not just _see_ him, but _feel_ him as well. He was taken so far aback by it that he just stood there, staring into Hannibal's eyes, feeling him for the first time. It was staggering, the emotion that came from him. How was it possible that a psychopathic cannibal could feel so much? And for him of all people.

But the kiss that Will had realized he was waiting for didn't come. Hannibal only caressed his face and looked at him before eventually pulling away. And Will felt reluctance from him now. GOD would he ever get used to that? Feeling Hannibal's _feelings_?

"I..." Will was breathless. "I can feel you now."

Hannibal took the cutting knife from the table and began to cut jack's shirt away to get at the meat underneath. "It would seem a different set of scales have fallen from your eyes."

Hannibal sounded nonchalant, but Will knew that nonchalance was not at all what Hannibal was feeling.

"You're letting me feel you. Why?"

Hannibal continued his work and spoke without interruption. "Time did reverse. The teacup I shattered did come together." Hannibal took out Jack's heart and stood before Will again. He held the heart out to him and Will felt a nervousness in the gesture and kn _ew_ what it meant. He took the heart gingerly in his hands and looked down at it in awe and wonder. "Is there a need to hide any longer?"

Hannibal's voice was hushed and trembling, and Will looked up into eyes that were naked. The person-suit Hannibal always wore was non-existent, revealing the man and monster underneath. Will could not have anticipated the way his heart bloomed at the sight.

"No." his voice was but breath as he drowned in the realization that Dr. Hannibal Lecter, The Chesapeake Ripper, The Copycat Killer, had just given him his heart. 

"We shall not hide from each other any longer Will. You know me, see me, and I would not have it any other way."

As Hannibal had said, it took just about two hours for them to pull up to the house that held Abigail inside. The entire time Will felt a fluttering nervousness and didn't know if it belonged to him or Hannibal. Probably both. The house was nothing but windows and sharp angles and stood facing a cliff open to the sea. Will stared in awe, but didn't linger long, Abigail awaited.

"Hello Will." Abigail smiles at him with unshed tears in her eyes. "I didn't know what to do, so I just did what he told me." 

"Abigail..." The belief that she was alive and actually seeing her so were two completely different things, and for a long moment he struggled to do anything but stare at her. The scar on her neck was prominent, but she did nothing, in dress or gesture, to hide it. She was confident and fearless. He wondered what she had done with Hannibal for all this time.

"You killed Jack Crawford?"

"Yes." Will breathed.

"Then we're free."

 _Free_. That was the perfect word for what they were. They were all free now.

Hannibal looked between them, and Will felt nothing but fondness and satisfaction coming from him. Albeit, smug satisfaction, but Will could live with that. He could live with all of this, easily.

He swept Abigail into his arms and knew that nothing was going to separate them again. He knew Hannibal would make sure of that, if only to make him happy. But Will would make sure of it too. No one would ever take Abigail from him again. He would kill anyone who tried.

**Author's Note:**

> All of these are direct quotes from the show. 
> 
> Years later, I am still trying to figure out how life supposed to be about anything but this.


End file.
